I try to live a regret-free-life, with the motto that if anything you did was what you wanted to do most at the time, then you can’t really regret it.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it’s also kind of a pain in the ass! You could analyze all the different ways you could have handled a situation for the rest of your life and you’d really gain nothing from it.
I do have one regret that I think about now and then. If I ever have children, I’m going to make sure they don’t make the same mistake I did.
I was 17, fresh out of high school and obsessed with the idea of traveling (no surprises there). I wanted to go to South America. I wanted to visit Machu Picchu, I wanted to volunteer in Peru, I wanted to visit coffee bean plantations, I wanted to swim with turtles in Costa Rica. I wanted to explore.
But everyone told me that if I didn’t go to university now, I never would.
Neither of my parents had been to university, and I really saw university as the key to unlocking a world of opportunities. If traveling meant I would never go to university, then I simply couldn’t travel now.
So, I didn’t. I went straight to study, choosing something I had loved at school but was too young to consider whether it was something I really wanted to do for the rest of my life; I studied Molecular Biology and Genetics.
I enjoyed my degree and I learned a lot, but fast-forward to now and I’ve never used my degree since graduating. I could have hunted for a lab job once I finished studying, but I chose to do what had been playing on my mind since I was 17: I went traveling.
People rant about the “school of life” and many parents are choosing to unschool their children, taking them traveling instead of enrolling them in traditional education. If you haven’t thrown yourself deep out of your comfort zone, then you wont be able to grasp how much you learn about yourself and the world from traveling.
Now I’ve spent some time traveling the world and being a global citizen I know that my career path I want for myself is completely different than when I was bright-eyed and fresh out of school. I want to communicate with others, I want to be surrounded by people, not stuck in a lab, and I want to make the world a better place.
I regret not traveling before studying and I regret not doing an exchange while at university.
If you’re reading this and you’re trying to decide whether to study or to travel: I say TRAVEL loud and clear.
If you’re reading this and you’re mid way through studying, but dreaming of foreign lands: do an exchange year!
Doing an exchange is a great way to see more of the world, without putting your academic studies on hold. You get to experience a different culture, a different university and make a bunch of new friends. You can spend your weekends and holidays exploring your new host country… ah! I feel envious just talking about it.
How to do a University Exchange:
The first thing you need to sort out is which universities in which countries you can do an exchange with. This will depend mostly on your university and what agreements they have in place. Talk to your course advisor a year before you’d like to do the exchange so that you can get all the details ironed out.
The great thing about many universities is they have set up agreements so that international students coming through a partner university only pay their local fees – this means that you wont be paying an extra for your semester or year of study.
Once you’ve decided where you want to go and have enrolled, then you’ll need to sort out some of the finer details like choosing cheap flights, finding the perfect student travel insurance and your new accommodation. Often the university will help you find student accommodation, but you can also look into websites such as Couchsurfing to find new friends or potential roommates.
Because your exchange is through your university or college you’ll get a ton of helpful advice from your course advisor, ensuring that you have enough support to get everything prepared in time. Doing a university exchange could well be the highlight of time your time at college – and is definitely worth doing.
Have you got any big regrets related to travel? Did you do an exchange when you were studying at high school or university? I’d love to hear more about your experiences.
It is really hard to live a regret free life, but you know we learn from these mistakes/regrets right? 🙂
Haha, learning from mistakes is all we can do 🙂 I think if this is my biggest regret I am pretty lucky 🙂
Life is too short to live with regrets and can only be lived forward you can look back but never regret it is the experiences you have had that make you the person you are
You’re so right Michele, I just it’s more of a “I wish I’d done it differently” than a big regret.
Hello internet stranger. I stumbled upon your site and have been enjoying having a look around. It’s funny i did the exact opposite. I went travelling for two years after school (which was everything amazing and terrifying and wonderful). But THEN, then I didn’t know what to do. I still managed to get tricked/scared into that whole you must go to university to ever have ‘opportunities’. I am almost finished uni. It has been an incredible five years, but not because of uni. Uni has frankly been the biggest disappointment. Now I am somewhat disenchanted with the world/people, have huuuuge student debt and am otherwise in the same position I was five years ago (but with more confusion). Lots of luck and happiness carving out a different life than the one we are sold.
Hi Ali, interesting response and it’s great to hear from you – sounds like you’re at the same university I studied in NZ 🙂 I’m so glad you went traveling first – but it sounds like you still haven’t found your calling, yet. Sometimes the path is linear, for some people at least. But I’m kind of enjoying the zigzag of learning and discovering. I’m also in the student loan club – I’ve been playing the “if I forget about it, it might disappear game” for a while now… no luck as yet!
I would have liked to do a three month or longer study abroad program, but wasn’t able to afford it since I was paying for school myself. However, the uni I went to had an inter-semester class that I was within my budget.
Hey Mig – thanks for your comment. Glad to hear you got to experience an inter-semester class! I wish I’d done something, no matter how small. Oh well, as they say – maybe next time 😉
Similar situation here – earned a degree in fluff (Anthropology and Italian) that I’ve never used teaching abroad, where the only requisites are having a general B.A. and liking children. I regret that I only did a short term study abroad in college, due to worry about the expenses of a year long program. It’s just as much an investment as a degree. I also regret that taking a gap year after high school isn’t a common practice in America like it is in Europe.
Aww, well at least you did a study abroad program at all! If I ever have children I’ll buy them a plane ticket somewhere far away as their graduation present (from high school) 🙂
Stumbled across your blog, and I completely agree with this! I went straight to uni and actually ended up switching my major, thankfully I was able to end up with 2 Diplomas instead of just wasted years. But I went because it seemed like the “safe choice” and my parents basically made me go…Whereas looking back, a gap year would have given me the chance to go out and try new things, and potentially fail at them, but eventually I think I’d have had a better idea of what I wanted for my future…Instead, I feel like I’ve wasted money on an industry that was much less appealing than it seemed (Graphic design), and another that’s portrayed as glamous yet impossible to get into (Photography)
I wonder why adults were so keen to push us towards uni? I think it was a different t hing in their generation too – almost guaranteed you a way better paying job, now degrees are as useful as high school diplomas for most people!
Hi Izy! I’ve just stumbled across your blog and have been picking through it while watching the hours tick away at work. I’m loving your writing style and this post especially was one that I needed to read. I’m 24 from the USA and will be taking my first solo trip (actually, first trip out of the country altogether) to Thailand in November for an unknown period of time. I tried to go to college when I graduated from high school but I just wasn’t ready for it, never got too far in my classes, and never ended up with a degree and that’s worried me a bit. I read most of these travel blogs and these people usually have a degree in something that’s seemed to help them along the way or is something for them to fall back on when they return from their trip, so it’s nice to read this perspective. Safe travels!
P.S. I’m also loving that you’re from New Zealand (like you had much choice in the matter)- it’s on my top list of places I absolutely have to experience someday!
Hi Ali,
Thanks so much for this sweet comment. I’m so glad to hear you’re heading to Thailand solo, what a wonderful adventure that will be for you. If you want any specific recommendations, feel free to ask I’ve been there a few times and am heading back in a few weeks. I think it’s important to follow your heart and your gut and to see where you end up.
New Zealand is beautiful, but I felt like I outgrew it before I was even a teenager. I am grateful to come from there, but happy I can leave – if that makes sense. Anyway, happy travels – November will come by so quickly.